10 April 2002: Two British adventurers have crossed the Bering Strait from the North American continent to Asia in an 'ultimate all-terrain' vehicle called Snowbird 6, though they had to content themselves with going half-way and reaching the international dateline after Russia refused to let them cross the border.

Steve Brooks and co-pilot Graham Stratford aimed to travel from the gold rush settlement of Nome, Alaska, to Provideniya, Siberia in about eight days. The craft can float on water, cruise through crushed ice and climb on to and over icebergs.

The area is exceptionally dangerous because the ice constantly moves at about 5kmh. Snowbird could could also be crushed while in the water if two ice floes crashed together, or could suddenly drop into a newly created hole in the ice and not be able to scramble out. Temperatures dipping to minus 40C were additional hazards.

They were 22 kilometres into the 90-kilometre stretch near the international dateline when Russian authorities threatened to arrest them if they crossed into Russian territory. But they pressed ahead to the Russian land mass Big Diomede and 'put their toes' across the border.

©2002irishcar.com